Development of function-graded proton exchange membrane for PEFC using heavy ion beam irradiation

Shiraki, Fumiya*; Yoshikawa, Taeko*; Oshima, Akihiro*; Oshima, Yuji*; Takasawa, Yuya*; Fukutake, Naoyuki*; Oyama, Tomoko*; Urakawa, Tatsuya*; Fujita, Hajime*; Takahashi, Tomohiro*; Oka, Toshitaka   ; Kudo, Hisaaki*; Murakami, Takeshi*; Hama, Yoshimasa*; Washio, Masakazu*

The graded energy deposition of heavy ion beam irradiation to polymeric materials was utilized to synthesize a novel proton exchange membrane (PEM) with the graded density of sulfonic acid groups toward the thickness direction. Stacked Poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) (FEP) films were irradiated by Xe ion beam with the energy of 6 MeV/u under a vacuum condition. Irradiated films were grafted with styrene monomer and then sulfonated. The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) fabricated by the function graded PEM showed improved fuel cell performance in terms of voltage stability. It was expected that the function-graded PEM could control the graded concentration of sulfonic acid groups in PEM.